AS___________________________________2012-2013
Rio Hondo College Academic Senate
Minutes
September 18, 2012
Board Room
1:00 P.M.
Present: Jon Whitford, Shin Liu, John Frala, David Lindy, Vann Priest, Fran Cummings, Shelly Spencer,
Greg Miller, Robert Bethel, Juan Fernandez, Mariano Zaro, Beverly Reilly, Marie Eckstrom, Lorraine Sfeir,
Ralph Vasquez, Jim Matthis, Gail Modyman, Kathy Lopez, Katherin Brandt, Kathy Pudelko, , Mike
Javanmard, Brian Brutlag, , Adam Wetsman, Dianne Holcomb, Dianna Reyes, Jorge Huinquez, Ron
Reeder, Steve Moshier, Chirs Acuna-Hansen, Robin Babou, Carley Mitchell, George Kimber, Colin Young,
Shirley Issac, Kimberly Mosley, Stephen Koelle,
Guests: Matt Koutroulis, Katie O’Brien, Belen Torres-Gil, Mike Munoz
Call to Order
The meeting was called to order by President Adam Wetsman at 1:03 p.m.
I. Approval of Minutes
Minutes for September 4, 2012; approved with minor spelling correction
II. President’s Report
• Mike Munoz, Associate Dean of Student Services encouraged faculty to support the
programs for Latino Heritage Month presented by the Office of Student Life and Leadership.
He also announced that the Office of Student Life and Leadership is looking for faculty and
staff to serve on an advisory board that will support the planning and implementation of
Cultural Heritage Months (Latino History Month, Black History Month, Women’s History
Month, National Coming Out Day, Asian Pacific Islander Month, Native American Month)
and other Student Success initiatives. Advisory board members will have the opportunity to
make recommendations on guest lectures/panel discussion topics, performers, film
screenings, and identify other key faculty/courses where the programs may align with the
curriculum. The advisory board hopes to meet on a quarterly basis.
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Accreditation
o The Administration has asked the Academic Senate to identify four faculty
co-chairs for the four standards. After receiving volunteers, the Executive
Committee will forward recommendations to the District for approval.
Presidential hiring update
o Adam Wetsman met with Teresa Dreyfuss, Sandra Rivera, Robert Holcomb,
Gary Mendez and Norma Garcia on Friday, September 14th to discuss the
presidential hiring process and the composition of the hiring committee.
There will be a special Board meeting on September 24th where the search
firm will be chosen. Representatives from the constituency groups will have
an opportunity to speak with the finalists before they give a presentation to the
Board.
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o There was a lengthy discussion about the makeup of the search committee at
the September 14th meeting. Adam Wetsman and Sandra Rivera stated that
changing the composition of the committee from the past practice dating back
decades would jeopardize accreditation. They noted that part of the reason for
being put on warning from ACCJC last time was that the Board altered the
hiring process. Wetsman and Rivera proposed that the committee should
remain the same this time and that we should evaluate how the process went
immediately afterwards, when the process is fresh in everyone’s minds.
Code of Ethics
o The Administration proposed to convert the Code of Ethics currently in the
Governance Manual into an Administrative Procedure. Senators pointed out
that this is problematic since it may set standards for behavior that can chill
academic freedom. Also, the Code of Ethics is not procedural, as
administrative procedures should be..
Reassigned time
o President Wetsman reported that he is working with Kenn Pierson to come up
with a process for various Coordinator positions and reassigned time
positions.
Cost Saving Task force is looking for an additional $1.4 million to cut from the
budget. One of the proposals was that student parking fees be increased. At the task
force meeting, President Dreyfuss stated that we have a $270,000 shortfall each year
because of parking. Our fees are $22.50 per semester, well below the $52 average at
surrounding colleges.
Dr. Wetsman reported that there is another meeting for committee studying Drop for
Non-payment lead by Henry Gee.
The Board of Governors has urged colleges to develop more TMC. They hope to
have 80% of degrees being awarded to have a TMC equivalent degree by Fall 2013
and a goal of 100% by Fall of 2014.
o The curriculum chair informed the Senate that we need 4 more TMC degrees
to meet this goal at Rio Hondo College.
III. Unfinished Business
• None
IV. New Business
• Flex Day Motion Presented by the Academic Senate Exec
Whereas Assembly Bill 1725 defines the relationship between
community college districts and faculty groups in California, and
whereas Title V, Section 53200 specifies that the Academic Senate has
purview over specified areas of college governance, and
whereas one of the areas which Academic Senate has purview over is
“policies for faculty professional development activities”, and
whereas action taken by the Rio Hondo College Faculty Association
are not binding on the Academic senate, and
whereas the Academic Senate has always designed all Flex Days
through its Staff Development Committee, and
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whereas the Academic Senate has and will continue to work
collegially with the District with the Flex Day agenda,
Therefore, be it resolved, that the Academic Senate will continue to
design all Flex Days at Rio Hondo College.
There was some discussion as to if a motion is needed.
The parliamentarian was consulted if there was a need for a motion
from the floor. The parliamentarian reported that there was no need for
a motion.
Passed Unanimously
AB 1725 Discussion
• President Wetsman noted that the Senate will be working to codify AB
1725 into Board Policies and Administrative Procedures.
• There is a need to delineate which “Academic and professional matters”
the District reaches a decision by “Relies Primarily” or “Mutual
Agreement”
• Some schools outline the 10 Academic and Professional matters in a
Board Policy and identify on which the governing board will Rely
Primarily on and on which policies the governing board will mutually
agree with the Academic Senate.
• Definition of Relies Primarily (from ASCCC)
• In instances where the governing board elects to rely primarily
upon the advice and judgment of the academic senate, the
recommendations of the senate will be accepted and only in
exceptional circumstances and for compelling reasons will the
recommendation not be accepted. If a recommendation is not
accepted, the governing board or designee, upon request of the
academic senate, shall promptly communicate its reasons in
writing to the academic senate.
• Definition of Mutual Agreement (from ASCCC)
• In instances where the governing board elects to provide for
mutual agreement with the academic senate, and agreement has not
been reached, existing policy shall remain in effect unless
continuing with such policy exposes the district to legal liability or
causes substantial fiscal hardship. In cases where there is no
existing policy, or in cases where the exposure to legal liability or
substantial fiscal hardship requires existing policy to be changed,
the governing board may act, after a good faith effort to reach
agreement, only for compelling legal, fiscal, or organizational
reasons.
• Discussion was as follow: It was pointed out that the previous college
President Dr. Ted Martinez had operated under the definition of Mutual
Agreement. For example, the faculty hiring policy could not be altered
without the agreement of the Academic Senate.
VII.
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VI:
A past Academic Senate president reported that Dr. Paul Parnell the VPI
stated in front of Dr. Martinez that Rio Hondo College is a mutually
agreed school.
Some Senators expressed a desire to have (1) curriculum, (2) degree and
certificate requirements to be identified as rely primarily on.
Further work will be done by the Executive Committee and this will be
brought back to Senate.
Committee Reports
SLO: the SLO coordinator Matt K. reported how the SLO committee will try to
review existing SLO’s for quality control. This is a big task and he encouraged
everyone to help the members of the SLO committee.
Academic Rank: Due November 13
Bookstore: Marie Eckstrom is looking at (discussing) the timeline for faculty
book order.
Curriculum: None
Professional Development/FLEX:
IEC: Has a desire to look at the governance manual. Also they are working on the
Educational Master Plan. Last time we had a plan developed, the college hired an
outside consultant. This time, because of the excellent work done by faculty and
others, we will be updating the plan ourselves.
ITC: No report
MIS/Enterprise: No Report
Safety: No Report.
Program Review: No report
Announcements: none
VII: Public Comment: None
VIII: Adjournment
• The meeting was adjourned by President Wetsman at 2:13 p.m.